1. The Field of the Invention
The present application relates to the field of mobile industrial equipment and methods of use. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods, machines, systems, sub-systems, assemblies, and components for providing mobile industrial equipment that may be transported over the highway and may be moved at a job site.
2. Related Technology
Industrial equipment may be used at a job site for various tasks. Some industrial equipment must be transported on the highway on the bed of a trailer. Tracked vehicles, for example, are not capable of efficient transport over the highway, as tracked vehicles have a lower top speed than most wheeled vehicles. Thus, tracked vehicles are generally transported over the highway on a trailer.
However, loading and unloading industrial equipment on and off of a trailer is laborious and expensive. Furthermore, the width of these tracked machines may make them larger than a width of a single highway lane. Likewise, some industrial equipment may be too large and/or too heavy to ride on a trailer fully assembled. These machines may require multiple trailers for on highway transport, resulting in added costs.
Some industrial equipment have been modified to include a wheel assembly. Wheeled industrial equipment may be transported on their own power or may include a truck connector (i.e. a kingpin) that may be connected to a semi-truck so that the industrial equipment may be driven over the highway to a job site. These machines are then disconnected from the semi-truck and left at the job site for operation.
However, once at the job site, if one of these machines needs to be moved to another location at the job site, it must either be reconnected to the semi-truck to be moved or loaded onto a trailer. Furthermore, many of these devices have industrial assemblies that are connected to their frames once they are positioned at the job site. In order to move these machines, these attachments must be removed or otherwise adjusted in a way that slows down the job in order for the semi-trailer to be reconnected.
Alternatively, the industrial equipment could be left at a single location at the job site. However, many jobs would require hauling material to the industrial equipment from multiple locations at the job site. For example, in a pit mine operation where rock is removed from the wall of the mine, the material would have to be hauled from various locations around the mine to the industrial equipment. This requires expensive loading and hauling costs as a large rock truck and/or a large loader may be required. The ability to move the industrial equipment may reduce and/or eliminate these loading and hauling costs.
Thus, a need exists for methods, machines, systems, sub-systems, assemblies, and components for providing mobile industrial equipment that may be transported over the highway and may be moved at a job site.